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GMO Scientist Switches to Breeding Organic Cotton

It’s rare that a plant breeder goes from developing genetically modified crops at a major biotechnology company to breeding varieties for organic and non-GMO farmers. Jane Dever, associate professor at Texas A&M’s AgriLife Research and Extension Center, is unique in having done just that. As global cotton breeding manager for Bayer CropScience, Dever put GM traits into cotton plants. Now she focuses on keeping GM traits out of organic cotton varieties.

Dever prefers the latter role. “I am just very comfortable here,” she says. “This is a great opportunity to work for Texas cotton producers and the more than 90% of US organic cotton producers located on the Texas High Plains.”

Heart with breeding, genetic diversity, genetic resource preservation

At Bayer, Dever became frustrated with the focus on developing plants as “projects” with a distinct beginning and end as opposed to breeding, which she sees as a process.

“What a lot of folks don’t understand is that ‘breeding’ and ‘GM trait development’ are two entirely different things,” she says. “It did not take long to understand that companies like these are not in the seed business unless they can realize growth from GM traits.”

When the cotton breeding position at Texas A&M AgriLife opened in 2008, Dever “took a leap of faith” and accepted it, backed by support from Texas farmers, the National Institute for Food and Agriculture’s Organic Research and Extension Initiative, and the Texas Organic Cotton Marketing Cooperative (TOCMC).

The focus of her work at AgriLife is breeding organic cotton varieties that have improved fiber quality, drought tolerance, resistance to thrip pests, and bolls that can handle Texas’s nasty sandstorms and extreme weather. Preserving genetic resources from unintended GMO contamination is another goal of Dever’s research.

An estimated 15,685 acres of organic cotton was planted in the US in 2013 with more than 95% of that grown on the High Plains of West Texas. North Carolina has also emerged recently as a producer of organic cotton.

Hard to find non-GMO seeds; screen to detect GMO contamination

Keeping GMOs out of non-GMO and organic cotton is a challenge because—as with corn and soybeans—GMO varieties account for more than 90% of production in the US.

The three major companies that sell cottonseed—Monsanto, Bayer CropScience, and Dow AgroScience— don’t offer non-GMO varieties.

Non-GMO cottonseed options are even more limited than they are for corn and soybeans.

“It’s very difficult for non-GMO farmers to get planting seeds,” Dever says.

Dever often receives inquiries on where to find non-GMO seeds, especially since the spread of herbicide resistant weeds, which are devastating cotton fields in the South.

The Roundup Ready GMO trait is so widespread in cottonseed that it is difficult for plant breeders like Dever to keep it out of her organic varieties.

“The problem for non-GM or organic breeders in a crop where biotechnology traits have been intensively adopted is that potential contamination is not visible,” Dever says. “Even the smallest amount of unintended contamination can multiply during the crossing, plant selection, and even testing phase if you do not know it is there.”

Tests to detect GMO traits can also be expensive.

Another aspect of Dever’s research is developing a fast, economical method to screen organic cotton for the Roundup Ready GMO trait. Seed Matters, an initiative that supports organic seed breeding projects, provided a $125,000 fellowship to Texas Tech graduate student Ryan Gregory to develop the method.

“If he can help devise a practical method to nip contamination in the bud, it will be of interest to every public cotton breeder,” Dever says. “Seed growers and farmers can maintain purity reasonably well if their beginning seed stocks are free from unintended presence of GM traits.”

Encouraging results on organic cotton varieties

Testing of the new organic cotton varieties began in 2011 on TOCMC members’ organic farms.

The results so far are encouraging. “We saw a 30%-40% reduction in insect damage from thrip, which is a major pest problem in organic cotton production,” Dever says.

Dever plans to release an organic cotton variety for farmers next year and aims to get an agreement with All-Tex Seed, a regional cottonseed company that offers non-GMO varieties and will process the organic cotton varieties.

She emphasizes that breeding is a process that takes time. “It’s a long-term thing. Once you get a variety, farmers can follow best management practices with isolation guidelines, but they have to start with clean seed. Their challenge is my challenge.”

Dever is happy she left the biotech industry for her position at Texas A&M where she can help organic and non-GMO farmers and preserve genetic diversity.

“The non-GM market is small and certainly under-served, which is exactly why it is where I focus as a public breeder,” she says. “It is not ‘picking up crumbs’ left from private sector crop development, which is short-sighted, but rather continuing the work needed to ensure genetics will do its part to address global resource issues.”